A new report, State of the Arctic Coast 2010, was released and backs up the notion of 30 contributing scientists in showing that the Arctic Coast lines are shrinking by as much as 8 meters a year. When the investigation started in 2000, barely any of the coast line had been recorded. (Only .05%!) The scientists from over 10 countries banded together and systematically recorded information on over 100,000 kilometres of the coast line in 10 years to formulate the data in their report.
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| A scientist standing in front of an ice-rich permafrost exposure in the coastal zone of Herschel Island, Yukon Territory, Canada. These ice bodies in the permafrost are rapidly eroded by the sea in the coastal zone. |
Two thirds of the coast line does not consist of rock, but rather permafrost. This material is a frozen substrate that can melt just as ice would. With the ever decreasing volume of sea ice in the oceans of earth, nothing is left to keep the permafrost frozen. Over time it is slowly being eroded. This shrinking of land provides significant problems not for humans, due to it being usually to far north into arctic conditions to have population, but more for the natural ecological conditions for animals such as caribou. They depend on freshwater lakes near coastlines, which are slowly being introduced to sea water making them unable for consumption.
A time lapse video of erosion occurring on a coast line in Alaska
http://www.awi.de/en/news/press_releases/detail/item/arctic_coasts_on_the_retreat_international_studies_describe_current_state_of_the_arctic_coasts/?tx_list_pi1[mode]=6&cHash=e3e81f01b78dada712547a30525d56ba
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